Reviews by mjohnson17:

More User Reviews:

A fruit beer executed to near perfection. With the taste of raspberry locked intact, the supporting ale celebrates the berry's bright flavor, its zesty acidity, and its crisp and refreshing taste in ideal fashion; and does so without backing down either.

As the beer hits the tongue, the palate is taken back by the beer's acute acidity that plays out above the modest lingering sweetness of fructose and wafer-thin malt. Slim on hops, the slight malt starch supports the beer's impressive sourness and its delicate brine without much interference in taste. Without being overly vinegar, or of lime, or of barnyard funk or game, the sourness is potent but elegant and refined.

Its light body is both softened with carbonation but is also given a sprite effervescent that springs from the tongue like brut champagne. Acidity strips the thirst from the palate and ushers in a high rate of refreshment and drinkability that outweighs its intense raspberry sourness. With an afterglow of fruit, wheat, cork and white pepper. (1,302 characters)

Deep hazy red with a slight touch of onion skin. Foam was oozing out of the bottle upon opening, and was enthusiastic upon pouring, but, in typical Cantillon fashion, quickly dissipated in the glass.

Absolutely stunning nose of pure wild raspberry supported by acidic citrus notes. Touch of funk, but much more subdued than most Cantillons. Still obviously a traditional lambic, but the quality of the raspberry is like nothing I've smelt.

Typical Cantillon in the mouth. A bit surprising, given the richness that the extra fruit and barrel treatment gave the nose. Tart citrus dominates, with a bit of crisp crackery grain making itself known. Finish is unbelievably long.

Beautifully carbonated, and a lovely mouthfeel. As easy to drink as any Cantillon, although the transition between the richness of the nose and the typicity of the palate is a bit distracting. (892 characters)

Bottle Vintage 2002, Sampled February 2004
Pours a deep hazy red color. It is well carbonated and produces a pink head as I pour it into my glass, though the head disappears quickly. There is an immediate aroma of raspberry seeds (fruity and woody). A slight sour aroma is joined by a musty leather note, though raspberries certainly dominate the nose. There is a good raspberry presence in the taste as well. The raspberry fruitiness makes it seem like there is a hint of sweetness in this otherwise austerely dry Cantillon offering. As expected this is fairly sour, though not extreme. The beer has a tannic, woody aftertaste that coats the teeth and mouth like a tannic red wine. A bit musty, but overall the Brettanomyces character seems subdued.

This beer definitely expresses the raspberry character more than the Rose De Gambrinus, though this is still quite dry so that the fruit can be hard to pick up if you don't know what to look for. I really like how the acidity pairs with the fruit character. This is a very well integrated beer, no one element overpowers the other. (1,086 characters)

2001 Vintage: 750ml brown glass bottle. Corked and crowned. The crown is pried off and the cork is removed. A lovely, exceptional looking reddish liquid emerges from the bottle and is topped off by a lovely off-white/pinkish head of foam. The foam lasts the entire glass and coats the sides, leaving exquisite patterns of Belgian lace.

Taste: The taste is excellent. A lovely blend of lambic funk and fresh raspberries. The taste is a bit too tart (even for us hardcore lambic heads!) up front, but it than smooths out with some lovely raspberry essence in the middle and a lovely smooth, lingering fruity flavor in the finish. The funky hints are very prominent up front and in the middle, but suprisingly the finish is pure, whole raspberries!

Mouthfeel: This one is spritzy with some lovely carbonation going on. This is neither too thick, nor too thin, it resides in between the two in a town called "perfect".

Drinkability: Insane! Very tart and funky, but oh-so good and tasty. The fresh raspberry aromas and the lovely fruity flavors of this Cantillon offering are excellent. The lou pepe series is really quite different than many other Cantillon offerings, as this brew is much sweeter, and fruiter than the Rose De Gambrinus and similar brews from Mr. Van-Roy.

Overall: Expensive? Yes!, but oh-so worth it at least once. At $30 a bottle, this beer is quite pricy, and hard to find...but you should still really try to get some. As the fruit is the main attraction in this one, the fresher your bottle is, the better! Man, oh man do I hope that I can sample some of this fresh at the brewery next week! Please Jean-Pierre, put some aside for me! (1,987 characters)

Mauveish/red-purple in the glass. Beautiful 1 finger white head. Aroma of tart and freshly squeezed raspberries. Taste follows the nose and just brings it to life. Mouthfeel is light, dry and earthy, slight pepper flavor sticks. This is exceptional and incredible stuff. (362 characters)

Poured a strange paled red color, showing a muddled hue through out the glass. Had no carbonation or anything else.

Smell was a musty scent toned down, a sour that had mellowed, and a yeast presence that had almost completely receded. The berries used have begun to poke through though a little muted by that strong Cantillon lambic base, showing a rounder fruit smell than in other Cantillon beers, especially younger vintages.

Taste was extremely smooth, as the berries tasted so natural since their tart and seedy bite could come through, mainly because the lambic base had calmed down from aging. The noticeable sour flavor began strong but restrained and proceeded to recede beautifully toward the finish, creating a mellow tart flavor relative to their younger vintages.

Most definitely complex, but I could recognize and enjoy the complexity as the aging has calmed this beer down, as opposed to younger Cantillons where the complexity and sheer punch is overpowering. Had this next to my father's Lindemans Framboise and the contrast was stunning, making the competition much too sweet and simple.

A bit of a flat mouthfeel though more than easy enough to drink. A stellar framboise, I've never had one this good. (1,319 characters)

Pours a very saturated, burgundy red color, with a soon disappating, fizzy head.

Exhibit a fantastic smelling nose, with a very pronounced raspberry presence, blending perfectly into the tart acidity of the beer, establishing a reminiscence of young berries and young, fermented wine. Barnyard funk mingles together with prickly raspberry stones, tied together by a sweet, fruity undertone, exhibiting a gentle depth to the aromas.

Has a medium carbonation and a very soft mouthfeel, with raspberry at every stage of drinking.

Tastes of unripe raspberries right from the beginning, wrapped up in leaves, moldy earth and tart funk - wild berries on an abandoned road during rain. This changes, as an earthy sweetness adds to the raspberries spending them a ripe note, including prickly, still sour stones. This fruity sweetness then stays on par with the bitterness on the palate till the finish, with the berries exhibiting a dusty earth note anong ripened, slightly fermented raspberry pulp, leaving behind a slick sourness.

The balance between ripe and young, sour raspberries, finding their quintessence in between, makes this beer noteworthy, featuring a lot of subtle Barnyard nuances. (1,228 characters)

2005 vintage on tap at the Malt House in Madison, WI on its opening night. $10 for a tulip glass.

Appearance: Raspberry vinegar colored dark pink. Beautiful color. No head and almost no bubbles. Flattish. Probably much better looking out of a bottle at least when reasonably young, or, as I have experienced with other kegged Cantillon, this may look better after a few chalices have been served and a few weeks in the keg have allowed this puppy to build a little carbonation. That may sound crazy but it's damn sure what happened to the last keg of Vigneronne I drank from.

Taste: Front is all raspberry and the back is all funk. Pretty cool flavors. The grape skin astringency comes through. The fruit is just magnificent and steady amounts of barnyard goodness beat upon the palate. Yum.

Mouthfeel: Very acidic and without carbonation this becomes hard to take in large doses. Still, it is not unbalanced and generally light to medium bodied. Carbonation would be a big improvement and I will be curious to try this in the bottle when I visit in Belgium in two months to see how it is different.

Drinkability: Not very good. This is a tough one to drink. The acid really gets to my tongue and throat in a much bigger way than most lambics have. I wouldn't want to many of these but again, this could be very different with a bottled version. (1,494 characters)

S: The smell is a bit mild with notes of raspberries, grass and mild funky notes. Not a whole lot of acidity.

T: The taste is tart with muted but clean raspberry flavors. Somewhat acidic. Notes of grass and raspberry seeds, and funky notes of mud and hey. Wood. The finish has a mild grassy bitterness to it and notes of minerals and dry raspberry notes.

D: Good. Very drinkable. However, it seems to lack complexity and is slightly to clean in character. It seems "young", which isn't that weird since this bottle was only a couple of months old. Would probably be way better in a year or so. (783 characters)

Taste: The taste bursts with a cascading waterfall of acetic vinegar. Just the right amount of fresh raspberry sweetness cuts into the vinegar and provides a perfect balance. You'll swear you can taste the musty basement, but not in a bad way. It's very complex and has layers of flavor. There's a lot going on here that is difficult for my palette to discern, but rest assured it's world-class.

Mouthfeel: A low, effervescent carbonation paired with a light-body. It is wet and refreshing as it glides gracefully around the mouth. The finish on this Lou Pepe Framboise is incredible as the flavor just seems to last forever.

A - Pours a beautiful clear ruby red with one finger of pink foam. Head quickly settles to a thin cap which is maintained. No lacing.

S - Letting the glass sit for a short time, the aroma is a huge rush of raspberries, both tart and jammy. After swirling the glass a few times, more of the funky side emerges, though the aroma is still dominated by fruit.

T - Nice combination of dry, tart raspberry and moderate funk. Raspberry component has absolutely no sweet jam taste, just a nice solid tartness, but not exceptionally sour, which is to be expected for a younger bottle. Funk plays a supporting role here. I think the aroma was a bit better than the taste, but the taste is still very good.

M - Light, crisp mouthfeel with a tart dry finish.

O - Excellent framboise. Would like to try an aged bottle to see where the tartness and funk end up. (884 characters)

2007 vintage. I had been saving this bottle and opened it in celebration of trying my 2000th beer.

The beer pours a reddish-purple color with a pink head. A great looking beer. The aroma is great. I get a lot of raspberries, but hidden in the background is the Cantillon funk that I love so much. The flavor is even better than the aroma. I get tart raspberries, oak and some of the Cantillon funk. The beer is so dry that it makes your mouth water as soon as you drink it. The salivary glands are working in overdrive. Medium mouthfeel and medium carbonation.

Not only one of the best sours I have ever tried, this is one of the best beers I have had period. It more than lived up to the hype. Well worth the $29 I paid for the bottle and I would buy another bottle again in a heartbeat. (791 characters)